Islamabad, September 07: Thirty-three militants were killed and two terrorist training camps and seven hideouts were destroyed by helicopter gunships in the remote Tirah valley of Khyber tribal region as Pakistani troops opened a new front against insurgents, days after 22 policemen were killed in the region in a suicide attack, officials said.
Most of the attacks were carried out in Naree Baba and Tharkho Kas areas where the proscribed Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) group is believed to have set up private jails and training centres, officials said late yesterday.
Two private jails had also been hit in Khyber, a main crossing point for NATO supply trucks carrying relief goods for the international troops fighting Taliban in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, troops demolished 17 houses of militant leaders in Malikdin Khel and Shalobar areas of Bara and in Jamrud district.
Nine suspected militants hiding in a house in Jamrud were captured and two kidnapped persons were freed. An unidentified person was killed in an exchange of fire between militants and troops in Bara while a 15-member peace committee comprising tribal elders met officials of the political administration and called for a swift end to the operation.
The officials gave them a list of 68 most wanted men, including LI chief Mangal Bagh. They said that all the wanted men should surrender unconditionally. This meant that the operation would continue if militants did not surrender.
They reminded the elders of a pledge made by the LI last year that militants would not challenge the writ of the state and stop armed patrolling in Bara.
–Agencies